Just go home, climbers. The adventure of scaling Mt. Everest is not as important as the concerns of the Sherpa guides who lost 13 of their own - three more are missing and presumed dead - in an avalanche. The guides are saying that they do not want to assist in any more climbs this year. They are mourning those who died, and they are fearful of conditions on the mountain. Many climbers already are showing respect for the Sherpas' situation, packing up for the year. But a few have indicated that they still plan to climb.

As a member of a French expedition to ascend the unclimbed northeast ridge of Everest, I read with delight your editorial "Because It Is There" (June 18). It romanticizes an activity that draws scant attention by comparison to other sports such as basketball or boxing. Climbing Everest is the unphilosophical abstraction to life itself. The climber senses, feels and eventually learns to know this as he struggles for the summit. Our expedition, although small and privately organized, will celebrate the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights (Sept.

The massive avalanche on Mt. Everest that killed 16 Nepalese mountain guides has caused Discovery to have second thoughts about its planned stunt in which jumper Joby Ogwyn was to leap off the mountain in a specially made wing suit. In a statement released Sunday, the cable channel said, "In light of the overwhelming tragedy at Mt. Everest and respect for the families of the fallen, Discovery Channel will not be going forward with Everest Jump Live. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the whole Sherpa community.

An Indian officer fell 4,600 feet to his death while trying to scale Mt. Everest, the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism said Tuesday. The victim was identified as Maj. K.I. Kumar, 40, who was part of an expedition of seven Indians and a Nepalese Sherpa guide.

MUMBAI, India - Bill Burke, a 72-year-old mountaineer from Costa Mesa, was making his latest attempt to scale Mt. Everest's northern face when the news came of the deadliest avalanche ever on the world's highest peak. As many as 16 Nepalese mountain guides, all ethnic Sherpas, were killed Friday on the south side of the mountain, but Everest's fraternity of climbers and their guides is small. The father of Burke's Nepalese guide was among the dead; another Sherpa in his group lost two relatives, including a nephew.

NEW DELHI - Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura broke the record for the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest when the 80-year-old reached the summit Thursday at 9 a.m., according to his website. But the octogenarian may not be able to bask in the limelight long. There are reports that Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, 81, is planning an assault on the world's highest peak next week, despite some recent intestinal problems. Sherchan frustrated Miura's record-setting ambitions once before when, in May 2008, Miura conquered the mountain at the age of 75, only to arrive a day after Sherchan's ascent at age 76 years and 340 days.

Just go home, climbers. The adventure of scaling Mt. Everest is not as important as the concerns of the Sherpa guides who lost 13 of their own - three more are missing and presumed dead - in an avalanche. The guides are saying that they do not want to assist in any more climbs this year. They are mourning those who died, and they are fearful of conditions on the mountain. Many climbers already are showing respect for the Sherpas' situation, packing up for the year. But a few have indicated that they still plan to climb.

A Sherpa guide leading a South Korean team's bid to scale the difficult southwest face of Mt. Everest fell to an icy death when his rope snapped, the Ministry of Tourism said today. Tshutten Dorje Sherpa, 21, died Jan. 30 while he was ferrying loads between the team's third and fourth camps, the ministry said. It said the guide's body could not be recovered on the face of the 29,028-foot mountain, the world's highest peak.

MUMBAI, India - Bill Burke, a 72-year-old mountaineer from Costa Mesa, was making his latest attempt to scale Mt. Everest's northern face when the news came of the deadliest avalanche ever on the world's highest peak. As many as 16 Nepalese mountain guides, all ethnic Sherpas, were killed Friday on the south side of the mountain, but Everest's fraternity of climbers and their guides is small. The father of Burke's Nepalese guide was among the dead; another Sherpa in his group lost two relatives, including a nephew.

Josh Brolin is a little tired of being thought of as a "man's man" type of actor. But he scaled Mt. Shasta anyway. The performer, who has embodied a swaggering masculinity in such movies as "No Country for Old Men" and "True Grit," says that he's growing weary of the macho tag. "It was fun at first and then it just got to be a little too much of - " he pauses as he contemplates the right word, then settles on an "rrrrr" cave man growl....

GALMPTON, England - The final push to the top of his personal Everest consisted of about 50 dainty steps, in the precise and idiosyncratic gait he has perfected over 25 years. David Suchet paced up to the door of the house, glanced around, gave a tip of his hat and the ghost of a smile, and disappeared inside. When the cameras stopped rolling, he emerged and raised his arms in triumph as a crew member called a wrap on one of the most remarkable achievements in recent British television history.

This column is for the adventuresome, and buying tickets to a Lakers game and yelling at the referees does not qualify. Fifty years ago - May 1, 1963, to be exact - a tall and slender man named Jim Whittaker stood at the summit of Mt. Everest. That's 29,028 feet above sea level, or about as high as you are when you fly coast to coast in a commercial jet. Think of looking out the window and having somebody wave at you at eye level. Best estimates put the number of people making it to the top of Everest at about 3,000.

NEW DELHI - Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura broke the record for the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest when the 80-year-old reached the summit Thursday at 9 a.m., according to his website. But the octogenarian may not be able to bask in the limelight long. There are reports that Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, 81, is planning an assault on the world's highest peak next week, despite some recent intestinal problems. Sherchan frustrated Miura's record-setting ambitions once before when, in May 2008, Miura conquered the mountain at the age of 75, only to arrive a day after Sherchan's ascent at age 76 years and 340 days.

A warming climate is melting the glaciers of Mount Everest, shrinking the frozen cloak of Earth's highest peak by 13% in the last 50 years, researchers have found. Rocks and natural debris previously covered by snow are appearing now as the snow line has retreated 590 feet, according to Sudeep Thakuri, a University of Milan scientist who led the research. The pessimistic view of Earth's tallest peak was presented during a meeting Tuesday of the American Geophysical Union in Cancun, Mexico.

Regarding "The Real Payoff After Everest" [May 3]: I was at that conference and was fortunate to hear Jamie Clarke speak. It was a great presentation. Whether or not it was enough "business-related" -- we got plenty of upsell from another presentation. Cindy Harris Novato You have given Jamie Clarke a nicely written front page advertisement but breeze over his account of the distressed climber calling his family. Was the climber fictional or real? If real, what was his name?

There is no obvious heir apparent lined up to take over the University of California system after Mark Yudof retires as president. Yudof was the first true outsider selected to run the sprawling institution in more than 100 years. So experts predict the search for a new president will look to leaders of large public university systems elsewhere in the country that, like UC, have faced dramatic declines in state financial support. Some observers expect the hunt to extend beyond academia, to government or business leaders.

After Sir Edmund Hillary's historic ascent of Mt. Everest, everyone knew Hillary's name. Far fewer knew about his indispensable partner, George Lowe. Hillary and his friend Lowe were the only two New Zealanders on the 1953 expedition to the top of the world's highest peak. If they could have had their way, they would have trekked to the summit together, but a number of circumstances, including the politics of giving two non-Brits on a British-led team the prime roles, conspired to leave Lowe among the unsung.